A strike scheduled to begin Monday has been called off, as officials from Greenfield, Mass.-based Baystate Franklin Medical Center and the Massachusetts Nurses Association have reached a tentative contract agreement, according to a report by The Recorder.
The agreement came during negotiations last Friday, organized by two state legislators that lasted roughly eight hours. The contract, if ratified by MNA's nurse members, will end the two groups' 29-month standoff.
The new contract will cover the last two years and last through 2016. It includes a compromise on overtime pay, which has been a divisive issue. Under the new contract, the hospital will pay a nurse standard pay for up to one hour worked past a scheduled shift. After one hour, the nurse will earn time-and-a-half pay, according to the report. Hospital officials had been fighting for weekly overtime pay.
The contract also includes wage increases, and the hospital will pay a higher percentage of nurses' health insurance premiums.
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